Richard Harris

Name: Richard Harris
Born: 1 October 1930
Where: Limerick, Ireland
Died: 25 October 2002 (Aged: 72) 
as: Albus Dombeldoor
Awards: 2 Oscar, 1 BAFTA, 1 Emmy Nominations, Won 1 Golden Globe

It's been a long time since we saw a Hollywood superstar with a reputation for raising hell. Nicolas Cage dabbled a little, so did Leonardo DiCaprio. Mickey Rourke, well, he wasn't quite a superstar, was he? No, hellraising seems to be a thing of the past, and we look back with great fondness to the Sixties and Seventies, when cinematic giants could deliver Oscar-nominated performances by day and knock back litres of hard liquor by night - giants like Richard Burton and Richard Harris. Both were immensely talented and charismatic and, though Burton topped Harris in the Nomination stakes, Harris could boast an extraordinarily successful pop career. And, of course, Harris survived those years of excess, re-scaled those Hollywood heights at the age of 60, and remained a megastar till the end of his days...

Richard St John Harris was born in Limerick on the 1st of October, 1930 and is one of the county's most famous children - other Limerick celebrities including ex-President Eamon De Valera, Angela's Ashes author Frank McCourt, and Rose Fitzgerald, mother of John F. Kennedy. Harris still calls the village of Kilkee his home, and still, when time allows, drinks in the Charlie St George on Limerick's Parnell St (which boasts a photo-plastered Dickie Harris Corner). As a lad, he studied at Crescent School (now Crescent College Comprehensive), where he excelled at both literature and rugby, then the Sacred Heart Jesuit college. His main dream was to play rugby for Ireland - as a boy he'd make his own ball from rags and rehearse glorious length-of-the-pitch tries. And he did come close, joining the legendary Garryowen club and, in 1951, winning a Munster senior cup medal. He played a rough game for a rough team - so rough that the name Garryowen has been given to the tactic of kicking the ball high in the air and descending en masse upon the poor unfortunate who tries to catch it.

Harris left school to work in the Mount Kenneth flour mill his family had run for generations. His was a famous name in Limerick. His forefather, James Harris, had been the Secretary of the Harbour Board, as well as a Market Trustee, and a shareholder in the Commodore, a (Catholic) riverboat that would regularly run against the Privateer, a Protestant-owned vessel. James had furthermore earned respect when, in 1868, he'd saved the French aeronaut Chavalier, whose balloon was holed while he attempted an ascent from a yard in Roche's Street. James offered the use of his own, bigger yard at Steamboat Quay, and Chavalier took successfully to the sky.